It was pointless to keep trying to wipe my tears away, they were coming too fast. “Brandon, I'm so so–”
“You cheated on me?!”
I bit my lip and nodded my head.
“And you're pregnant?” He sounded completely defeated. I would have rather he been mad, it would make this so much easier.
“Yes.”
He ran his hand over his buzzed hair and down his face, “Who? Never mind. I already know.”
“How? Did he tell you?”
“I'm not stupid Harper. I see the way you look at him when you think I'm not watching, and you bite your lip and space out whenever you look at that damn ring.”
He did know. “Brandon, I'm sorry! It was just one weekend, and I hate myself for it!”
“Does he already know?” He glanced up to meet my eyes.
“No.” It barely came out above a whisper.
We stared at each other for an undetermined amount of time, both silently crying, before he asked me one last question, “Why Harper?”
I wanted to make up an excuse, say we were wasted and I regretted it, but he needed to know the truth. “I love him too Brandon.”
He flinched and shut his eyes.
“I know I don't deserve this, but would you please not tell him? And if you're going to be angry at someone, please be angry at me. I did this to you.”
“You did this to us Harper.” Slowly standing, he made his way towards the door and opened it, “I won't say anything. I've always known how he felt about you, and if you chose him, then there's nothing for me to be mad at him for. But I need you to leave. Now, please.”
He wouldn't look at me as I left, just held the door with a tight, shaking grip and tried to calm his breathing.
“I'm so sorry.” I whispered before leaving.
~~~
I glanced up, surprised to see we were already at the restaurant. “Well...here goes nothing.”
“How do you think she's going to take it?” Bree ran a hand through her short blonde hair.
“Ha. I was hoping you'd tell me.”
“Uh, no. This is the one situation I haven't known what to expect.”
I looked at her in horror, “What if she hates me? What if they kick me out Bree?”
“They wouldn't do that to you, and my parents could never hate you. I just don't know how she's going to take it.”
We stopped talking when we walked in and were greeted by the hostess and hugs from Mom.
“Oh, I'm just so excited for the appointment! We'll be able to get a due date, and if you're far enough we can hear the heartbeat!” She was clapping and bouncing.
Aw hell, this was about to all be real. “Is it okay if I'm not exactly thrilled right now?”
“Sure it is honey, but you've already gotten over the hard parts. This is when it gets exciting.”
The waitress took our drink orders and we ordered our food without even looking at the menu. This is where we always came on our girl’s day. We chatted about school, Konrad and Bree, if I planned to go back to school after this year ended, which I didn't, and started to talk about if I wanted a boy or a girl.
“Uh, Mom? I saw the baby's dad today.”
Her mouth formed an O, “Did you tell him?”
“No not yet, I thought I should probably tell you who he is first.”
“Well I don't see why you had to tell me first unless…do I know him?” Her eyes were large and she looked like she was holding her breath.
“Yeah. You could say that.”
Bree tried to cover her laugh with a cough and grabbed her iced tea to take a sip.
Like a band aid Harper, just rip it off. I took a deep breath and blurted out, “It's Chase.”
“Oh thank God!” Claire exclaimed and put a hand over her chest.
Bree spewed out her tea and my jaw dropped, as well as my spoon. “What?!” We screeched in unison.
She shushed us and looked around for a second before leaning over the table, “You have no idea how much of a relief this is.” She held up a hand to stop my question, “My son is in love with you Harper, he has been for a while now. That's why he doesn't come to the house on Sundays anymore. He came to us a month or so ago and said as long as you were with Brandon, he couldn't handle being around you anymore, said it was too hard.”
I swear my jaw dropped even more.
“When you said you were pregnant, I knew he was going to be devastated, but when you told me Brandon wasn't the daddy, I hoped it was Chase's. Don't get me wrong, I wish this wasn't happening to you two while you're so young and not married, but what's done is done. He'd even talked about maybe moving away after graduation. I knew he would do it if he found out you were having a baby, especially with some random guy.”
“Mom! Why didn't you tell me? I didn't know I was the reason he wasn't coming around, you must have hated me! Why did you let me move in?”